74 NUT GROWING 



not recommended for amateurs. A dignified shag- 

 bark hickory tree about sixty years of age that I 

 cut back for grafting purpose about three years ago 

 is not half grafted as yet, and it is inclined to resent 

 the indignity imposed upon it by giving chief atten- 

 tion to its own independent new shoots with scant 

 courtesy extended to the grafts. Any man who tries 

 to defeat Nature is likely to find himself much occu- 

 pied with details of the effort. 



The preparation of nut trees for top-working will 

 be most satisfactory if confined to those which are 

 less than thirty years of age. Even then the first 

 labor involved is considerable, but it pays. Let us 

 take for example an old field containing a couple of 

 wild hickory trees, a black walnut and a butternut. 

 If the owner cuts these down and puts the field into 

 rye he will probably get about twelve bushels of grain 

 and a ton and a half of straw to the acre, yielding 

 beyond all expenses perhaps twenty-five dollars net 

 profit. The labor and cost of annual preparation of 

 the field for other crops will seldom give more than 

 fifty dollars net profit to the acre at best. If the 

 owner of that field top-works the four wild trees 

 with scions of fine market varieties instead of cut- 

 ting them down and putting annual crops in the field, 

 his first cost will perhaps be twenty-five dollars per 

 tree and he would have to wait for as long a time 

 as he would for so many apple trees to come into 

 profitable bearing. The four trees, however, when 

 in good bearing may easily yield an average of one 

 hundred dollars net profit on nuts annually. The 



